As days get longer and temperatures begin to climb, birds and birders are anxiously waiting for that annual bliss that comes with the change in seasons. Yes—you know what I am talking about: Spring Migration. While some species are already on the move, we’re waiting for that burst of northward movement from the bulk of […]
Tag: audubon
In Virginia, a Race to Ready New Nesting Sites for 20,000 Returning Seabirds
Every spring since the 1980s, tens of thousands of seabirds have made their way from their South American wintering grounds to Virginia’s South Island to nest. Once there, raucous masses of Gull-billed Terns, Royal Terns, Common Terns, Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, and others combine to create the state’s largest breeding colony. But this April, when […]
Antarctica’s Most Numerous Penguin Has Suffered Huge Declines, Expedition Finds
One month ago, I arrived with a team of scientists at Elephant Island, Antarctica—a lonesome, 29-mile-long hunk of glacier and granite off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The island was chronicled by a member of Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1916 expedition as “about as inhospitable as one could well imagine,” and it hasn’t changed much […]
President’s Budget Falls Short For Climate, Birds and the Environment
WASHINGTON (February 10, 2020) – The Trump Administration presented a budget to Congress today for fiscal year 2021 that includes dramatic cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Commerce which houses the National Oceanic and Atmospheric […]
New Water Rule Endangers Millions of Birds and America’s Water Supply
WASHINGTON (January 23, 2020) – “The Trump Administration’s new water rule makes it a lot easier to pave America’s critical wetlands and put up parking lots,” said David Yarnold, president and CEO, National Audubon Society (@david_yarnold) after the Administration announced the finalization of its rollbacks to the Clean Water Act. “Wetlands are not only important […]
I’ve Seen the Many Wonders of Arctic Alaska. We Must Keep Our Protected Areas Free From Drilling.
On a July day several years ago, I sat on the spine of a hill in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range on Alaska’s North Slope and watched 15,000 caribou stream around me, some just a few yards away. I could hear their clicking feet, their untroubled breathing, and their rough coughs so closely […]
Millions of Migratory Birds Catch a Break as NYC Passes Bird-Friendly Building Law
NEW YORK — Today, the New York City Council approved Proposed Initiative 1482B, a new policy requiring that new buildings’ materials meet bird-friendly standards that greatly reduce collision risks to birds. Audubon’s Migratory Bird Initiative has issued the following response: “New York’s world famous skyline lies right in the middle of an incredibly important migratory […]
A Trump Policy ‘Clarification’ All but Ends Punishment for Bird Deaths
WASHINGTON — As the state of Virginia prepared for a major bridge and tunnel expansion in the tidewaters of the Chesapeake Bay last year, engineers understood that the nesting grounds of 25,000 gulls, black skimmers, royal terns and other seabirds were about to be plowed under. To compensate, they considered developing an artificial island as […]